Egypt's Turmoil and OT Genocides

Is there such a "justified" killing?

If I am in the holy (to me being Egyptian) Egyptian land, would I be in the demonstrations? I believe so. But because of the absence of police, people had to defend themselves. And to do so, people took kitchen knives, staffs, white weapons etc. Thus, there is a chance to engage in a fight with a criminal, and kill someone... would I participate in killing? A similar question was raised last week in the OCF meeting, when an answer came out: yes! God commanded genocides in the Old Testament (OT)! Is this true? Did God command genocides?

With what is going on in Egypt, I had both questions in the back of my mind, and I believe I have an answer, at least for me. I will try to be brief here.

First, what happened in the OT is taken out of context. Because of many reasons that I try to summarize as follows.

1. Different "punishments". First, there has been different "punishments" in the OT. The great flood in days of Noah. The confusion of language in days of the tower of Babel. The rain of sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah in days of Lute. The 10 Plagues of Egypt in days of Mosses. And then, many "punishments" for the Israelites in the wilderness, and in Canaan. But these are actually calls, not punishments.

2. Call not punishment. God calls each person to return to Him in a gradual manner, according to our response. Gentle whisper first, then invitation, then a push, a warning, etc. The last way God calls us, is that He leaves us to our own desire, rather the wrong desire of our hearts, so that we start reaping what we sow: evil. We saw this with the Israelites many times, in the book of Judges, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc. Again, the goal is people's repentance; that once I see the result of my evil, I realize that I need Him. That is, God left up His support - for a moment - so that we taste how it is without Him. And hence, the door for repentance is always open.

3. Repentance door is open. A "genocide" was commanded to Jericho, but Rahab the prostitute - and all her family - were saved, because she believed and repented. Not only was she saved from the last call to Jericho (to repent), but also she was one of two ladies mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ, glory to His Holy name. Surprisingly, neither was our mother St. Sarah, St. Rebecca or St. Rachel... rather, the two were originally gentiles; Rahab and Ruth! This confirms that God didn't really command a genocide, but it was a call for people of Jericho to repent, and if they did, like Rahab, they would have been saved!

4. Last Call. Did God warn them before? Let us see. 400 years before, God sent them Abraham, who was salt and light among them, and they definitely heard about God's promises to him, which contained warnings and vows to them (and that is why Abraham is considered a prophet). They also had Lute, Melchizedek, and Job. They also witnessed the destroy of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then after 400 years, they saw the 10 plagues of Egypt, and how God split the red sea for them to pass. Yet, their hearts were uncircumcised and they chose not to repent. So, God delivered them to the desire of their hearts.

Now, and second, back to the main question, is there such a "justified" killing? Should I kill or not if I am a soldier in a war? Or if I am in Egypt right now, and need to defend my family?

"Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, ... for some, with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. But food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse." (1Corinthians 8:4-7)

Thus, if I am a soldier, or member of safety committee in Egypt, and my conscious is pure that killing as self defense, or country defense, or nation defense, is valid, then it is valid for me. Yet if my conscious tells me that this is wrong and it is cutting the chance for a human to repent, then it is sinful, even if the priest, or patriarch said otherwise.